3. Then the Lord said to me: What do you see, Jeremiah? “Figs,” I replied; “the good ones are very good, but the bad ones very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”
4. Thereupon this word of the Lord came to me:
5. Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, I will also regard with favor Judah’s exiles whom I sent away from this place into the land of the Chaldeans.
6. I will look after them for good and bring them back to this land, to build them up, not tear them down; to plant them, not uproot them.
7. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.